Daily Archives: January 20, 2010

I’ve never done a poll at Get The Picture before – I confess that I find most of ’em kind of silly (I mean, does Mark Richt really care if 400 anonymous voters think he should fire Willie Martinez?) – but I think I’ve found my first subject worthy of soliciting your informed opinion on.

Bringing Florida quarterback Tim Tebow to New York for April’s NFL draft could spur higher television ratings, but Gil Brandt, who advises the NFL on its invitations, won’t say whether Tebow will be on the list.

That’s because Brandt, former head of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys, never says who he’s inviting, especially this early.

It has been the NFL’s policy not to invite players who the league thinks could be sweating it out in the green room for hours, let alone days. And Tebow could very well sit well through the third round. Or he could be taken high in the first, depending on which NFL Draft web site, analysts or agents you go to for an answer.

I don’t want to read too much into this set of stats that I found in a Mike Hugenin post this morning, but still, there’s a trend worth mentioning:

There were no 2,000-yard rushers this season; there was one in 2008, three in ’07 and none in ’06 and ’05.

There were 53 1,000-yard rushers this season. There were 54 in 2008, 56 in ’07, 36 in ’06 and 46 in ’05.

There was one 5,000-yard passer this season, Houston’s Case Keenum. He is just the 10th passer in NCAA history to reach that plateau; there had been two each in ’08 and ’07 and one in ’06 after none reached the mark in ’05.

There were three 4,000-yard passers this season. There were six in ’08 and ’07, three in ’06 and two in ’05.

There were 25 3,000-yard passers this season; that equals the number from 2008. There were 36 in 2007 — which is an all-time, single-season high — 17 in 2006 and 18 in 2005.

There were three 1,500-yard receivers this season; that’s more than in any of the past four seasons (one in 2008, two in ’07, zero in ’06 and one in ’05).

There were 29 1,000-yard receivers this season; there were 33 in ’08, 38 in ’07, 21 in ’06 and 28 in ’05.

Every one of those stats, with one exception, shows a decline this season. And that one, 1,500-yard receivers, is hardly dramatic. So, is there anything we can take from this? Are defenses really starting to catch up to the spread? Are the clock rules having an effect? Is it simply the result of college offenses spreading the ball around to more players? Or is it merely coincidence?

Doesn’t Jim Rome come off as the nerd you knew in high school who desperately wanted to sound hip?

On the other hand, this story, in the wake of Junior’s departure, is pretty funny.

The Tebow family and Focus on the Family advertisement story is back. Since the Tebows are willing participants, it’s hard to argue there’s any exploitation going on, but you wonder if their choice of friends is the wisest, considering that there’s already push back and mockery coming from folks who would consider themselves to be Tebow supporters.

Quote Of The Day

“Just because they tweet something emotional during that time, that doesn’t matter,” Smart contended. “It gives the other team motivation. But our team was motivated to play Texas. Texas outplayed us, outcompeted us. They outcoached us. They out-physicaled us. They did a lot of things better than us.” — USA Today, 1/2/19